Page 71 of The Last De Loughrey Dynasty

“Saw that a little late, didn’t ya?” Jesse joked, but Nathaniel took it seriously, his expression twisting to worry. “I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s like they are in delay or something, and when they finally reveal themselves, they practically slam into me far more intensely than usual.”

Mai was the first at our table, and without saying a word, Nathaniel pulled her in by the waist, placing her next to him and pressing his lips firmly to hers. For a moment, she looked a little surprised before she returned his kiss.

They rarely ever kissed in public like that. To be honest, I think I’ve only ever seen them kiss with passion when they were around our circle or thought to be in private.

“A good morning to you too,” Mai grinned at him when she pulled back, but her boyfriend didn’t look as joyful as she did. She hit him gently in the ribs with her elbow. “Oh, come on, Grumpy Bear, we made it back safe and sound.”

“And we solved the riddle before you could,” Naomi taunted happily, brushing her knuckles playfully against Jesse’s cheek, who pushed her away with a look of jealousy. “I would have figured it out one of these days,” he argued. “Close. I was so close, but you ruined it.”

“Sure, just keep telling yourself that.” Naomi shrugged her shoulders, grabbing the apple from his plate. “That was mine,” he commented, but didn’t make any attempt to get it back.

Naomi bit into it and chewed loudly. “You don’t get a say in this,” she replied calmly, hinting at the dozen times Jesse had stolen from her plate over the past few years.

Dorothee sat down beside me and placed a book on the table in front of her. The leather that bound the book was covered in daisy wheels. I frowned, reaching out and stroking my thumb over the engravings.

From the way her hands clenched the book, I assumed she was going full dragon protecting her treasure, but she just kept looking at me until I returned her stare.

Her eyes were red and a little swollen, which hinted that she had cried a few hours ago, and something inside me ached at the possibility that this could be my fault.Could be. But it didn’t have to be. I didn’t hold her as the kind of girl who cried over some arsehole. Because that was what I was. Just some dumb arsehole, and I deeply hoped she viewed me the same way.

Mai explained everything that had happened and what they had discovered through a dream Doe had of Gwyn's memories.

I listened half-heartedly as the girl beside me added a detail every few sentences.

“So, the necklace was a gift from James?” The fact that Doe wore the necklace around her neck bugged me. If James was Dottie’s killer, then Doe wearing his gift was only a sign that history was catching up to us.

She reached for the rose quartz, ivory necklace and cupped it in her hand.

“Yes. He presented it to Dottie as described in the riddle. It also explained why you don’t like me,” she said, her gaze fixing on the jewellery as my eyes met my friend’s, and Naomi slightly shook her head, telling me she didn’t know the truth.

“How come? I never said I loathed you,” I questioned coolly, taking a sip of my coffee.

She finally looked up at me. “Gift of peace, born in rivalry,” she quoted. “The Kingstone family and the De Loughrey’s must have been rivals for decades. The gift was a sign of peace and a seed of their love that would bloom out of it. I didn’t know that the Kingstone’s were De Loughrey’s rivals. But you certainly did.”

I certainly did not.

But if this was what she wanted to hear…

“The De Loughrey family goes back to the days Owley was founded.” I knew that because I’d read all about her family when I first found the pictures in the hideaway. She comes from a smart family. Both economically and politically smart. The De Loughrey’s are old money, like all of our families. It started when Cedric De Loughrey became a lawyer. Just a little-known lawyer in the seventeen-fifties, until he became one of the most well-known lawyers in England's history as attorney general for England and Wales in his later years. There was one particular article that stuck out to me. Written by Susan O’Mally in seventeen-seventy-two, about how unusual it is that De Loughrey’s clients always won in court, despite how much evidence there was to prove their guilt, plus how impossibly fast he worked his way up in position. In her last article, she wrote‘this must be witchcraft’, even though the trials ended at the end of the seventeenth century. Another article had been published a day later, but half of it was censored, and I haven’t been able to find the original documents. Only the fact that Susan was sentenced to death by hanging for the attempted murder of Cedric De Loughrey a week later. My guess, she never committed a crime, and he got scared by whatever she said in that last article, so he had to get rid of her.

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked back at Doe beside me. “You come from a family of lawyers, right? It’s a generational tradition that every De Loughrey studies law to continue your family’s boring legacy.”

Doe didn’t flinch at my insult in calling her family’s career boring. I could say the same about mine. I was the heir to the Kingstone bank. One of the biggest banks in the United Kingdom. Couldn’t think of something more boring to do for the rest of my life.

“My mother is a lawyer. She actually met my father in court,” she answered without a smile at the thought of her parents, and her eyes saddened, which told me more than words ever could.

Jesse snorted. “Hopefully not as a client.”

Doe made a face and chuckled. “No, if they were different people, I’d actually adore their love story. They were rivals, defending opposite positions. After the case, he asked her out for dinner, and that was it. Now they are married and have me.”

“Dinner must be interesting with lawyers as parents, do they debate over what stuffing belongs in a turkey?” Jesse joked, the sadness over not solving the riddle forgotten. At least it looked like that. As I knew Jesse, he’d think about being a failure quietly for the next few days. Even though it wasn't really that deep.

Doe traced the circles on the back of the book. “When my father is at home, they fight like our dining room is actually a courtroom, but he works in New York since I was three and barely visits, so that’s not often the case. They are still married, though.”

The table went quiet until Doe cleared her throat. “Anyway, we got off-topic, why do the Kingstones view the De Loughreys as rivals?”

“As far as I’m told, one of your grandfathers tried to sue the Kingstone bank in a case of fraud. I don’t know who won or what happened, but the rivalry between our families started then. The hate was mutual. My father asked me to keep away if a De Loughrey attended this school.” I easily came up with the lie.

In reality, I’ve got no clue why the fuck we were supposed to be rivals. However, it was a significant step toward the James and Dottie issue. Maybe they had been killed for going against the whole family rivalry.

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